THE INTERCOLONIAL CRICKET MATCH.

Evening Star, Issue 3872, 22 July 1875, Page 2

THE INTERCOLONIAL CRICKET MATCH.

TheJ * Australasian* of the lOthJinst, contains a letter to the editor from M. L. Gold smith on this subject, {gaps which we make the following extract Si*,—Although you have though fit to in' ▼eigh against the projected cricket trip to New Zealand, you will, probably, not refuse admission to your columns to what there is to be said ea the other side of the question. In the first place this New Zealand trip is not put forward Sa a national affair, er as one which the orfck ctera ef Victoria are ealled on to support, or which the various clubs should countenance; net are they asked to do either of these latter. For the pete two years New Zealand has been anxious for the visit of a Victorian team, and so desirous, indeed, have the cricketers of that Colony been to see our play that last season a delegate was sent over here to arrange, if possible, for the visit of one of our crack clnb teams in default of getting a representative eleven. ' It was found, however, that the time Required to’do the trip was so long that only a few conld go, and the matter dropped for the time. Negotiations have, however, since been opened, and there is every probability that, in combination with the cricketers of New South Wales, a team will he got together which will creditably represent Australian cricket. As to the effect which, if it be carried out, this affair will hare upon our ensuing cricket seasen, and especially upon the Intercolonial Match, yon have fallen into at least one error. So far aa at present known, there will be only one match WKh New South Wales next season, and that will be played hero at Christmas. If, however, a return match be played, it will hake plaeo in Sydney in March. The present retention is that the team tor New Zealand shall start from here immediately after the Intercolonial Match in December, so that locking at it in the light ef the Intercolonial Match or matches, it cannot possibly interfere therewith. Again, the proposal is to take six players from each Colony, so that, even if a return match were fixed to take plaice in the absence of the team, the Sydneyites would bo weakened in the game in greater proportion than we should be, especially if the rathe*- ** blaai and wornout players,” who are anxious —as you say—to go to New Zealand, were required to de battle for us against New South Wales, -and were absent in New Zealand at the time. Unless this latter contingency were probable, your argument loses all force. In so far an our own cricket club is concerned, I doubt whether the public would take less interest in the raateh or two that would be played during the team’s absence, particularly if, as you put it, there is no likelihood of the best men going. You repeat several times that the matches played In New Zealand would have no interest for onr public. In think in this that yon are more mistaken than in any other of yo«r statements. We know comparatively nothing of Now Zealand cricket, and your sneers on what it proVwbly is might well have been spared. Yet you assume that no public interest would be felt in the doings of our men and their Sydney companions over these men, all of whom have been before the public for years, and whose names are as well known in connection with cricket in the Colonies as they possibly can be. Probably the New Zealanders will be very thankful for the advice you tender them, that they should come over here to show us what they can do before we send over a team to them, but if large public interest were felt in a match or matokes played here, why would it not be aroused, and rather in a greater degree, if instead the matches were played in New Zealand. In addition to the other reasons stated, you loek upon the project with special disfavor because it is iu the management of private gentlemen rather than in the hands of the M.C.0., or of a general association. Why did not ‘Bell’s Life,’the ‘Field,’ and other English sporting papers attempt to decry the visit of the English eleven because it was not taken in hand and carried through by the Marylebone Club ? They might with as much, or as little, reason as you have shown hi your article. Why did they not . suggest that an Australian team should first in the same manner as you have recommended the New Zealanders to visit us ? The short reason is this—we are not now asking the New Zealanders to visit us, though we should be heartily glad to receive them. Nor did the English cricketers ask us to go there. In the one case, we wanted to see cricket in its perfection, and were willing to pay for it; in the other, New Zealand wants to see Australian cricket, and is willing to pay the necessary cost. And as the only way we conld get what we wanted was at the promoter’s risk, and as the enly way in which New Zealand uan get what it wants is at the hands of private gentlemen willing to risk money in the transaction, these gentlemen have been found, and will, if possible, carry through their undertaking. You say, also, that if a New Zealand team were first to come here they would have little difficulty in afterwards getting a purely Victorian team to go over. You may have sources of information in this respect which are denied to others, but so far as is generally known this would certainly not be possible. The editor thus comments on the above

Wq have read nothing In Mr Goldsmith’s letter to lead us to alter our opinion respecting the proposed Now Zealand trip. Our views, we confessed, were rather selfish, but then they were sa in the interests of Victorian cricket only; and, moreover, we are sorry to find Mr Goldsmith is one of the promoters (we assume so from his letter), as he is one of the very cricketers whose services this Colony will need during next season. Mr Goldsmith either forgotsor ignores the fact that the England lQH||4eft thdihld country in the beginning of tMwmteiy arid wlfcuaed in tlnWtro play tike

follcwlng season. We apprehend pat net only che sporting Press, bat many of bbe leading olubs and cricketers of England, would have looked very coldly on any scheme that would have taken away eleven of the best players during the summer. There is no analogy between the two cases, as we should be losing half-a-dozen of our best men during the most active period of our season. Mr Goldsmith says there will be only one intercolonial match with New South Wales, but we hope there will be a match at Melbourne and a return at Sydney, The Cup matches also will be of, if possible, greater interest tha* ever J this year, so we shall want all our best players to remain with us. Why we advocated a visit from the New Zealanders here first, in place of an eleven from here going there, was that it appeared to us that an intercolonial match—eleven or fifteen of New Zealand versus eleven of "Victoria—played on the M.C.C. would possess an interest for the public which would result in sufficient funds being secured to deft ay the expenses of the New Zealand team, and provide sufficient to take a Victorian team to New Zealand the following year. Our climate is for cricketing purposes far preferable to New Zealand’s, for we cannot forget how, when Parr’s team played at Dunedin, a gale of wind levelled the grand standj and almost blew the hair off the players’ heads. The New Zealand eleven would see better cricket here aud at Sydney than any combined team could show them on their own grounds, and if their men could only display as good cricket as Fowler and Rees did in their prime, on the Albert ground, Sydney, or the M.C.C. here, they would be enabled to enjoy a pleasant trip, and learn a lesson in the game free of expense. This view we take may appear selfish to Mr Goldsmith and his brother promoters, but we opine it is the view which Victorian cricketers and the _ cricket public will also adopt. However, if Mr Goldsmith’s “every probaoiity ” eventuates in a certainty, and a combined team is got together, we wish him and them good luck. We shall be glad to hear that the promoters enjoyed themselves, and put some money in their purses; but we confess to feeling very little interest in the matches or their results. Perhaps, however, if they get well beaten wherever they go, it may stimulate the New Zealanders to come here, although wo must confess we see little chances of such a contingency if the grounds in New Zealand are any way decent ones, and the weather is at all favoraljb, for as a rule, Victorians cannot play cricket in cold weather, preferring a hot wind with the thermometer at lOOdeg., to the fresh breezes and cool skies of Maori land.